Frequently Asked Questions

General

The eMark is a digital and decentralized Currency-Unit. Because of the cryptographic technology that is used in the Transactions, it is a so called „Cryptocurrency“. The eMark is neither issued, administered, controlled or regulated by a central bank nor by a government. Their distribution takes place exclusively in a Peer-to-Peer network of equal computers.

The eMark is completely called „Deutsche elektronische Mark“ (abbr. DEM). It's a non- profit and voluntary Open-Source-Software-Project that was launched in 2013 and has been continuously improved and developed since that time. The central development team comes from Germany. The eMark is thus "Made in Germany".

Nothing but the similarity of the name. As well as the efforts of the developers, to achieve the same stability, intrinsic value and acceptance as a means of payment, that distinguished the D-Mark for decades, until it was replaced by the euro in 2002.

The eMark is based on the functional principle of the Blockchain-Technology, similar to Bitcoin. Each eMark transaction is repeatedly checked, confirmed and thereby finally verified by the eMark network.

The maximum amount of eMark can be generated by mining is limited by the not manipulable algorithm of the underlying software to a maximum of 210 million DEM. Beyond that, eMark only can be generated by the so-called staking.

Interest payment

Although the term interest payment has become generally accepted, the term "Proof of Stake" (POS) is better used to describe the interest payment of cryptocurrencies. Staking is not a non-performing money multiplier, but is a reward for the users of the eMark network and their support for maintaining this network.

Each user supports, ONLY by using a core wallet (the eMark-qt), the entire eMark network, by forwarding blocks (while the software runs in the background) and confirming transactions. A so-called "lightwallet" (e.g. Android or iOS), which has not downloaded the complete Blockchain and is not able to carry out the complex calculations for confirming transactions, does not represent such a support.This means that only users using the eMark-qt Wallet can generate POS blocks – and therefore can profit from staking.Each individual transfer represents a "coin" for the eMark network, figuratively speaking. This means that coins with the value 0.0001 DEM, 10.000 DEM or 2573.8453 DEM can exist. Over time, several coins of different ages accumulate on an eMark address, depending on how long the last transaction was made. If you are now, for example, are paying with such a 108 DEM coin the sum of 23 DEM to somebody, the "change" is again a coin of 85 DEM (103 DEM minus 23 DEM).The coin age is always set to zero for each transfer. Thus, as in the example, the 23 day old 108 DEM coin has become a 85 DEM coin after paying 23 DEM, which is now zero days old. These coins are also called "coin blocks".

If these conditions are fulfilled, the respective coin blocks are gonna be "staked" (interest is paid). This is done automatically. The larger the coin blocks and the older they are, the greater their "weight" is, that means larger and older coin blocks are staking faster, with very small blocks it can take several weeks until they are "staked" and you'll get your "interest" credited.

If a coin block has been "staked", the coin age is reset and staking starts again after 30 days, if this coin block has not been moved in the blockchain in the meantime.

The interest is always added to the current coin block that has been "staking". For example, if a coin block with 100 DEM is staking exactly after 365 days, a coin block of 103.8 DEM and a coin age of 0 days is obtained. You can dispose of this 103.8 DEM after 100 confirmations by the eMark Blockchain (approx. 3h).

Transactions

The transaction fee is currently 0.001 DEM for an average eMark transaction, regardless of the destination and is limited to a maximum of 0.01 DEM. This means that it costs only a fraction of the fees charged by conventional financial institutions for comparable transactions.

Once a transaction has been sent, no matter if it is already confirmed by the eMark network or not, can no longer be cancelled. It is therefore always important to make sure that all the necessary data is entered correctly in a transaction.

Mining

Mining means digging, like digging a gold-nugget in a defined area. Mining in crypto means searching a “block”, that means to compute the right solution for a complexed mathematical task in a fixed algorithm and a defined time. If a solution is found you get a “block”, on eMark you will rewarded with 50 coins for that block.

To start eMarkmining you had actually 2 choices.
You can “solo” mining , means you get all the needed hardware and software in stock and try to catch up the block alone (but you will get the full reward of 50 eMark).
Or you can pool mine. That means you don’t need lots of software and you put together with other miners your hashpower. You can use your own hashpower or you can rent some.
If the pool found a block you will rewarded in accordance to your hashpower.
For miningpools look at eMark homepage and for rent hardware you can look here: nicehash.com or miningrigrentals.com.

In case of pool mining (preferred solution by the way) you can hash with your own hardware or you can rent hardware like shown above. If you mine on a pool you must only point your hash-power to an URL, some pools need registration. On poolmining your hashingpower added with others together and if a block is found, you will rewarded for your shares submitted. A faster hardware will get more shares, so more shares gives more Reward.

Storage & Wallet

Technically speaking, a wallet is a storage medium for transaction keys (also known as "addresses"). Such a digital key is generated for each transaction (purchase or sale) and is inextricably linked to the quantity of units (e. g. eMark) acquired or disposed in a transaction. The eMarks are not stored directly in the wallet. Only the corresponding transaction keys, from which the total amount of eMarks that one owns is derived. The special feature of the eMarks is that if a certain typ of wallet (Core-Wallet) is used, the credit on eMarks held in it even bears interest. (INTEREST PAYMENT)

The official eMark website currently offers core wallets (eMark-qt) for the most common operating systems for downloading to your own PC or MAC.

For example, an online wallet for eMark is offered on emark.space (not official eMark site). It requires a registration.

It's a wallet in the form of an app for downloading and using on the smartphone/tablet. Currently (February 2018) an Android wallet is under development for the eMark. An eMark wallet for IOS will follow.

The transaction key is printed on it and physically stored together with another private key that unlocks the transaction key. (for example, vault, etc.) On eMark Website you can create and print your own eMark paper-wallet.

Special storage medium, usually in the form of a USB stick or chip, on which the transaction keys are also stored physically/offline (so-called "cold storage") and can be protected against unauthorized access by additional passwords. According to the overwhelming majority of experts, this is currently the safest form of storage. Unfortunately, no manufacturer currently offers an eMark compatible hardware wallet.

The eMark-wallet then automatically synchronizes itself with the eMark network. This usually takes several hours.
The bootstrap files do not necessarily have to be downloaded. However, they considerably shorten the synchronization with the eMark network, which can take several days without bootstrap.
Once installed and synchronized, the eMark wallet will automatically update itself with the eMark network each time it is started.

Security

The eMark network cannot be manipulated because all transactions are stored in the blockchain and thus simultaneously on thousands of different computers worldwide. All newly added transactions are also first checked and confirmed by the eMark network and then integrated into the block chain.

eMark cannot be stolen from the network by attacks on the eMark system.
However, attacks on the user himself can lead to the loss of his own eMark. As soon as an attacker reaches a private key, he also has access to the associated eMark credit.
An attacker can gain this access, for example, by malware or viruses that can spy on or copy the file "wallet.dat". The same is true for access to the computer itself (e. g. via WLAN), by hacking online storage devices such as Dropbox or iCloud (if private keys are stored there), or by fake wallets based on the original.
Every user is therefore responsible for the protection of his or her private keys, e. g. by encrypting the "wallet.dat" file with a secure password protected against unauthorized access.

Yes, you can also lose your eMarks permanently. For example, if you lose access to your private keys and thus also to the eMarks directly. Be it due to hard disk crash, other data loss, fire, water or theft. When storing the eMark in paper wallets, you will also no longer have access to your eMark, should such a paper wallet be irretrievably lost or irreparably destroyed.

The greatest danger when using a wallet installed on your own computer is the loss of the password with which the file "wallet.dat" was encrypted. The file is still there, but NOBODY in the world can decrypt this file again without the valid password.

Help

In the eMark-Forum or on social media plattforms you will find many answers to frequently asked questions about eMark. Facebook | Twitter | Youtube
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